Monday, December 16, 2013

RX: TWO TABLESPOONS OF LAUGHTER

By Kate Collins

Is there anything better than a good belly laugh? The kind
where you hold your sides, wipe your eyes, and rub the muscles in your face
because they hurt?Seriously, when was
the last time you did that? Did you know
that doing so boosted your immune system and reduced your risk of serious
illness?

Research reported in Scientific
American (Nov 27, 2013) has shown once again that laughter is indeed the best medicine. Why?
Not only is it therapeutic, but it has no side effects! What drug manufacturer
can say that? (How about none?) But even a normal laugh will work wonders. You
needn’t split your sides to get the health benefits. Just be happy.

One of the most famous forerunners of “the science of
happiness” was Norman Cousins, who had been diagnosed with a life-threatening
autoimmune disease. After being given a one in 500 chance of recovery, Cousins
created a laughter therapy program, which he believes was the key to his
ultimate recovery.

Cousins went on to establish the Cousins Center for
Psychoneuroimmunology in Los Angeles, California. You can read about his
journey back to health in his book, Anatomy of an Illness.

And despite studies that show positive benefits of
happiness, conventional medicine is still hesitant to admit that a person’s
emotional state might have any major impact on overall health and longevity.

Isn’t that silly?

Why wouldn’t your emotions and mental state affect
your health? It’s already well-known that stress can take a tremendous toll on
your health. Yet conventional scientists frown on the idea that emotions such
as “happiness” or “joy” would make any difference. It makes me want to smack
them upside the head.

My favorite TV shows and movies are comedies. My favorite
friends have great senses of humors. When my family gets together, we vie to
make each other laugh. And the first thing that attracted me to my beloved
husband was his wicked wit. He could crack me up with just a glance. In fact, I
love to laugh so much that I even make my mysteries humorous.

Do you believe in the power of laughter? Are you generally a
happy person? What kinds of things make you laugh?

4 comments:

I can laugh at myself, my cat and dog, good books, movies, good jokes - and I do mean good - Actually I can laugh at almost anything. When I am with my Best Friends, all I have to do sometimes is look at them to know we are thinking the same thing and we can burst out laughing. I love laughing. Especially import for me since I suffer from depression. :)

I love to laugh. I can't really say what makes me laugh, because I have what some people might consider a weird sense of humor. I do not laugh at jokes of a sexual nature, or those that I know will offend large groups of people. Of course, you never know what may offend some individuals and some people seem to look for things to be offended by, but still, there are some areas that just shouldn't be entered in a "joke". But I think it is important to be able to laugh at ourselves, and admit that we all have things about us that can be laughable.

I recently took a yoga class. Part of it was laughter yoga. As adult we do not laugh enough and the brain does not know the difference between real and fake laughter. So we were taught some laughter yoga which can be used when you need it as if someone cuts you off in traffic.One is to start softly and raise the volume of your laughing and then lower it again. At the end of each laughter yoga we clapped hands twice and then raised our hands and said something like "Yeah".My husband will make me laugh sometimes just by saying something punny. We do live in Punsylvania, after all.